


From the Ashes

by whyyouacknsocraycray



Category: Ori and the Blind Forest
Genre: Angst, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mount Horu, Ori's adopted family, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whyyouacknsocraycray/pseuds/whyyouacknsocraycray
Summary: Spoilers for Blind Forest ending!  "Just one more step, get to the Spirit Tree, and their journey would be complete. Nibel would be saved. But Ori was so tired..."
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	From the Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished playing Will of the Wisps yesterday, and it inspired me to go back to some of my favorite moments in Blind Forest. I just had to write this story, because I had feelings.

Just one more step, get to the Spirit Tree, and their journey would be complete. Nibel would be saved. But Ori was so tired, having pulled every trick they had learned from the ancestral trees, the leftover light of spirits just like them. It had barely been enough, the fire that had erupted from Mount Horu exploding around them and throwing their body to the forest floor. Even now, they could feel the heat rising up around them, a scorching reminder that they were far from safe.

"Ori, please get up!" Sein called, but their eyes just wouldn't open. The fire crept closer, but they just wanted to sleep. When was the last time they had even gotten a chance to rest? After escaping the Ginso Tree maybe? Though that was less sleep and more unconsciousness forced upon them. Sein continued to push. "The Spirit Tree… so close… He's our only hope left!"

And Ori begrudgingly opened their eyes, and staggered to their feet. Sein waited for them at the cliff's edge, and they pulled out Kuro's feather one last time. The tree stood empty some distance away, a few tiny blue lights that dotted its trunk waiting to be brightened by Sein's return. They could do this, Ori thought. They leapt off the cliff, gently gliding on the soft breeze and leaving the heat behind.

Until they felt the talons close around their body!

Kuro gave a horrifying loud shriek, grabbing Ori in one claw and Sein in the other. She landed on the very cliff Ori had just leapt from, shaking their body in a crushing grip before abandoning it in the dirt to be burnt. They stayed completely still, limp body in too much pain and no longer responding to their commands. Somewhere nearby, Kuro held Sein in her deadly grip, so close, and yet the distance may well have been miles. They had to get up, they had to fight!

But Ori was too tired and too hurt to continue. If only they were stronger, they could get up and beat the owl back until she released the forest's light. Unfortunately, Kuro held the very power that had allowed Ori to push back the many enemies they had encountered, and Sein couldn't aid them now. They felt the unending stare of the great owl, the entire forest watching this moment with baited breath even as it suffocated under the flames.

Would they even get the chance to grow into an ancestral tree? The light of their fellow spirits had taught them so much. They wondered briefly what skills they would have left behind, if given the chance. Not that there were any more spirits to teach, they were the last, and soon the forest of Nibel would be no more, reduced to ashes.

And Kuro? Her unhatched egg? There wouldn't even be a forest for the two to live in. It was all gone, the elements of Water, Wind, and Warmth being restored meant nothing if the Spirit Tree itself did not maintain the balance. It was very possible that Kuro was the last creature left. Ori thought back to their journey. Gumo had been the only other friend they had encountered, and even then it had taken Ori saving his life, freeing him from the falling rubble that Gumo himself had caused, for the tentative alliance to form. Gumo gave over the Water Vein, and later Ori vaguely remembered Gumo pulling them out of the water after Kuro attacked them on top of the Ginso Tree. Ori hoped he was still alive somewhere.

Arms wrapped around Ori's body, lifting them out of the dirt. They felt warm. Not the deadly heat of the embers destroying their only home, but rather the warmth of life, of comfort, of family. It reminded them of Naru, but Naru was gone. It was just them left, and soon it wouldn't even be that.

The arms cuddled Ori close, and they started to wonder if they were already gone! If this was death, it wasn't so bad. At least they didn't feel alone as someone else supported their failing body.

Air rushed past their face. This is it, they thought. At least there was comfort in their final moments. They thought they could hear crying, though it seemed unlikely now. Perhaps the forest itself was crying at its own end. It would explain the droplets of water hitting their face…

The droplets didn't stop, if anything they became heavier! The fiery death was fading away, leaving only fur and a beating heart as the source of warmth surrounding them. Just like when they were younger.

"Mom?" they called, with nothing more than hope, and the arms hugged them even tighter. The light of the Spirit Tree began to surround them. They had no idea what had happened, but somehow Ori knew it would be alright. The forest was balanced once again!

Ori sighed, and let the last of their awareness drift away.

* * *

The arms were there when they woke again.

Ori couldn't explain why this was so surprising to them, especially because it was so safe and familiar. A hand was rubbing slowly along their back. They snuggled deeper against the fur, feeling the heart beat slow and steady, burrowing into the arms. Still tired, still sore from the pains and stress, but somehow whole. Sighing, Ori allowed their eyes to blink open, catching glimpses of dark fur.

When they had been younger, even when the forest first became blind and dead, Ori had often found themselves in Naru's tight embrace. Whether it was fear of a storm or just plain tiredness, Ori always sought out Naru for comfort. It felt right, in that moment, to be there with her. They wondered what had caused them to seek her out this time…

And then it all came crashing back! Leaving Naru, struggling through the forest, Sein, the elements!

They shot up in Naru's arms, trying to figure out if it had all been a terrible dream or if they were even alive! The hands adjusted quickly to Ori's rapid movements, ensuring they did not fall on the forest floor. Ori looked around the foggy landscape. It was their home! Their burrow, which they had not seen in what felt like an eternity. Naru smiled at them, the rise and fall of her chest and the beating of her heart being wonderful indications of her being alive! How? Gumo was there, too. Slightly removed from Naru and Ori, he had still made his bed in their burrow, and Ori welcomed the sight. It was dark outside, clearly nighttime, and Ori could smell the rain continuing to fall.

Ori didn't know how it happened, and in that moment, they didn't care. They were home! They settled back down with a contented trill, eyes falling shut, steady breathing matching with Naru's.

* * *

Later, they asked what happened.

"The owl returned the light to the Spirit Tree," Naru explained. She was overjoyed to see Ori awake and coherent again, remembering all too well the awful moment of finding them unconscious in the dirt. After days of searching, to come so close only to see her adopted child hurt had almost been too much for her to bear. But Ori was recovering, slowly and steadily, as was the forest around them.

"Her egg," Ori said, dragging them to a standing position awkwardly. They immediately tried to leap to a higher point, but Ori's strength was yet to return, and they ended up collapsing to the newly growing grass surrounding the burrow. It was harder to regain their energy, and they missed Sein's strengthening presence.

"Ori, what's wrong?" Naru asked, even as Ori tried to pick themselves up again.

"She just wanted to protect her child," they explained, hoping Naru would understand. They owed it to the owl, who had sacrificed her life so that the forest could live again.

Naru picked Ori up, placing them on a bed of leaves and grass. "Where is the egg?" she asked.

Ori tried their best to explain the location in the Valley of the Winds, where they hoped Kuro's last remaining child still lived. Naru carefully tucked Ori under a blanket of woven grass, and their eyes drifted shut once again. Leaving the burrow, it seemed, was too much of an effort just yet, and Ori welcomed the sleep that came with open arms.

* * *

Naru retrieved the egg, with Gumo's help. While the forest was still recovering, many of the paths had cleared enough to let the two of them journey up the mountain and back down with their precious cargo. They could see it! It sat waiting in its new nest when Ori woke again, and they were happy for the soft warmth of life they could feel through its shell.

They could honor Kuro's sacrifice. As much as the terror had entered Ori's heart while escaping her wrath, he understood her own fear. She had lost her children, and Ori couldn't help but feel that it was their fault!

Ori had been missing, the Spirit Tree had been calling for them! But because they were hidden away with Naru, the other guardian spirits had died and Sein had been lost. Though Ori knew that the Great Storm was the true reason they had been separated from the Tree, they still felt that taking responsibility for Kuro's last egg would ease the guilt that had inevitably appeared.

Kuro may have been trying to destroy the light that had killed her children, but her actions almost caused the end of their entire forest and her last child's life. So, caring for this egg? Helping keep her child safe, just as Naru had done for them? That was something Ori could do!

They wandered towards the Spirit Tree, watched as the leaves continued to grow with new guardians. It would be Ori's responsibility to teach them, as they carried the light of so many of their fallen siblings. They would keep an eye out for any stragglers blown away, ready to care for them and guide them!

The first leaves, glowing brightly with new life, drifted in the wind to the grass and the small white flowers in the field.


End file.
